McDougall's Library/Archives collections

McDougall's library and archives collections, including the Lakeman Library for Electoral Studies,hold extensive and unique collections of materials on electoral issues.

Holdings include books, pamphlets, journals, extensive press cuttings, other printed material, and archives, dating from the mid nineteenth century onwards on voting systems and elections, electoral reform and proportional representation, suffrage and other related constitutional issues.

Many of the materials stem from or are associated with the Proportional Representation Society (PRS), founded in 1884, the predecessor of the Electoral Reform Society (ERS). The Library's name commemorates Enid Lakeman OBE, the distinguished former director of the ERS and a noted pioneer in the study of voting systems and their effects.